‘I won’t leave Bollywood until I work with SRK’

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and actor Shah Rukh Khan may belong to different cinematic universes but Kashyap vows not to leave Bollywood until he works with the superstar.

In his career of more than two decades, Kashyap came close to working with Shah Rukh several times.

Kashyap said the 52-yearold actor, who also happens to be his Delhi University senior, was keen to work with him in No Smoking (2007), a film which eventually went to John Abraham.

“He (Shah Rukh) wanted to do No Smoking and he was very upset when I went away from him. I also went to him with Allwyn Kalicharan. I wanted to do that with him and a big superstar from Hollywood. Everything was almost done but then again [it didn’t happen]. But we will work together,” Kashyap said, adding, “I won’t go anywhere without making a film with Shah Rukh Khan... I will write a film that will lure him. He should be attracted to it; he should be dying do the film.”

Calling his relationship with Shah Rukh “strange”, the director, known for movies such as Dev.D (2009) and Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), said he is in awe of the actor.

“He is my senior from university. He has been there like a big brother, helping me. He is super successful. When he loves you, he approaches things like, in my struggling years, [he used to tell me], ‘if you do what I tell you to do, your problems will disappear’. But I didn’t want him to make my life,” he shared.

Kashyap, who over the years has earned the image of a rebel in Bollywood, said he can fight with anyone but Shah Rukh.

“He is the only guy I can never speak up to. I can fight with the world but not him. If he scolds me, I’ll sit in a corner and cry. He is someone I have this love for. I love him to death,” he said.

The director revealed that Shah Rukh often makes fun of him and bullies him but he is charming as well.Kashyap, who is a regular at various Indian and international film festivals, said that movie fests “saved” him.

“Film festivals showed me a way how to make low budget films. In the sense, while I’m making a film which doesn’t have a lot of pedigreed star cast, the interest in the project is created by film festivals.

If my films work there, it’ll help me create awareness here,” shared Kashyap, whose latest directorial is Mukkabaaz.

PHOTO: WASEEM GASHROO/HT Anurag Kashyap (above); Shah Rukh Khan (right)

PHOTO: VIRAL BHAYANI